Wichita eagle., 1887-04-17
A GREAT SPEECH.

We t,NC oSloW tuC SiC1t oPVSSA, Ia D0
half Of Ireland. delivered by Senator In
gals before the immense audience at th'
Grand Opera House In Topeka, Tuesday
evening, April 18th:
Mr.. Ingalls, said: Mr.. President ant
fellow citizens The resolutions that have
been just read In your hearing meet will
my hearty concurrence ApplauseJ and i
the voice with which express my assen
finds response in both hemispheres 1t i
because that voice addresses to the con
science of the human race and to the con
sciousness of humanity itself Applause.
am here tonight, fellow citizens, not as
politician, not as an official of the govern
ment of the United States, by which title
have been introduced to you by your pres
ident, but as an American citizen, to ex
press my belief that the cause Of
(Applause) One hundred Thousand
citizens of Irish birth ard descent hav,
cast their fortunes with us and assisted Il
build up our great fabric Of civilization
rich in every clement of present prosperity
but far richer in every prophecy Of com
ing greatness and renOwn. (Applause.
The Irish cause is more than the cause OF
Kansas, it is the cause of America. Mil
lions of Irish citizens have contributed OF
their muscle and brain from the very
foundation of this government to It's sue
cess and prosperity. More than one hall
of the soldiers in the Continental army
that wrested from Great Britain the indie
pendence of these colonies were OF Irish
nativity and descent. (Applause.) And
during the long interval that has elapsed
Irishmen in America have contributed OF
their scanty and pitiful earnings for the
support of those who had been reduced to
poverty in that land from which they
they themselves had fed, more than two
hundred millions of dollars.
| think, Mr. President, that the cause OF
Ireland thus in wide, economic sense, is
the cause of America. Nor should Amer
leans ever forget what has been enunciated
in your resolution, that in the last struggle
for liberty upon the American continent,
upon every battle field from Bull Run to
Appomattox there was not contest that
was not illustrated by Irish heroism and
valor and consecrated by Irish blood Ap
plause.
But, sir, in another and far wider sense,
the cause of Ireland is not alone the cause
of Kansas or the cause of America; it tran
scends the boundaries of nations, it sur.
passes the confines of the seas and becomes
the cause of humanity itself. Applause
1t is, sir the cause of the past; it is the
cause of Leonidas at Thermo opylae; 1t Is the
cause of Tell and Winkelreid: it is the cause
of Bruce of Bannockburn, of Hampden
and Pym; it is the cause of Cara
baldi. and of old John Brown of
Ossawatomie. Applause 1t is, sir,
that cause which has inspired the patriots
of every age, the heroes of every race. the
martyrs of every religion. And SO it is,
sir. that tonight conceive it to be proud
honor and distinction TO be permitted to
appear here in this historic city Of this IL
lustrious commonwealth that has itself
made incredible sacrifices for liberty amid
people that have passed through tempta-
tions to yield their principles and have met
all trials with an unimpaired constancy and
courage; among citizenship that has
never failed to respond to the demand for
succor or help from whatever source it
might come; | say, SIT, that | feel it to be
a proud tribute, a proud honor and proud
distinction to appear here to speak in be-
half Of the struggling millions of Ireland
in that tremendous conflict that they are
waging against caste and prerogative and
tyranny (Applause) under the heroic lead
of Parnell (Applause) and under the heroic
lead of those English allies, and under
Gladstone (Applause) the grandest brain
and will upon this planet (Applause) in the
cause of home rule and local self-govern-
ment for Ireland and the Irish (Applause).
We ask, sir, for Ireland and the Irish
what we ask for ourselves; we ask for
them what we acknowledge here in Kan
sas, DO more, no less, Applause the right
to govern ourselves, to manage their own
affairs in their own way, subject to the
allegiance they owe to the British Empire.
Mr. President, the experiment that Great
Britain is trying to make with Ireland is
neither a novelty nor an innovation 1t is
the climax and elimination of seven hun
dred years of unbroken and continuous op-
preston and tyrany, and as an American
citizen think that is long enough to try
the experiment, [applause] for with all the
power at their disposal, if after seven hun
dred years, Great Britain by force and VIC
lence and coercion and tyranny has failed
to accomplish the final destruction
aud overthrow of the Irish people,
ii is time to try some Oth.r eX-
pertinent. LApplause. If after a pc
riod that covers the life time of twenty gen
erations of men, Great Britain has failed in
this bloody and brutal experiment, i, is
time for her to understand that she contin-
ues longer upon this line in opposition to
the moral sense and the conscience and the
nF
where upon the face of the earth. EAp-
plause. | say to you, fellow citizens,
without apprehension of successful denial
under oath from any respectable quarter,
that the policy that has been pursued to-
wards Ireland by Great Britain for this
long period that have described. is rec.
ord of crime, of tyranny, of oppression
beside which all the annals of blood and
rapne that have been written upon the
pages of the worlds history are virgin In
nocence. Applause.
Take down the map Of the world, Mr..
President. if you please, and turn to that
little spot which Is designated
thereon as the Emerald Isle; how large
q space it has covered in the worlds SYM
pathyi how vast place it has covered In
the worlds history how deeply affection
for it is imbedded in the uudying love OF
home and the unalterable love of country
that has always animated its inhabitants! /!
A minute and almost intinitesimsl speck
upon the surface Of the earth. would you
believe it. sir. that the area of Ireland com
prises but little more than one half Of the
space allotted upon the map to the state of
Kansas. Draw line through the meridian
of Larned and go eastward to the Missouri
river and you have vastly greater terri
tory than that which has been known in
history for more than thousand yesrs as
ireland; alsnd sacred in song. land sur
rounded by hospitabe seas, whose exhals-
tons nourish verdure tha. decks it with